THE KOESTLER TRUST

Registered charity 1105759 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as KOESTLER ARTS

The Koestler Trust is the UK's leading charity for arts in prisons. Through awards, feedback, mentoring, outreach and involvement, it plays a unique national role in encouraging offenders, secure psychiatric patients and immigration detainees to take part in the arts, often transforming their lives. The Trust then brings prison arts to the public through exhibitions, publications and events.

Objects

3) THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ("THE OBJECTS") ARE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE ARTS AND EDUCATION AND FOR PURPOSES BENEFICIAL TO THE COMMUNITY:A) TO PROMOTE THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE OF INMATES AND FORMER INMATES OF PRISONS, YOUNG OFFENDER INSTITUTIONS, SECURE UNITS AND ANY OTHER ESTABLISHMENT FOR THE LAWFUL DETENTION OF INDIVIDUAL INCLUDING PATIENTS AND FORMER PATIENTS IN HIGH SECURITY PSYCHIATRIC AND OTHER HOSPITAL UNITS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM ("THE INSTITUTION") AND THOSE SUBJECT TO NON-CUSTODIAL ORDERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND PERSON SUBJECTED TO SIMILAR REGIMES OUTSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE FIELDS OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS, SCIENCES, CRAFTS OR TRADES BY THE PROVISION OF AWARDS TO SUCH PERSONS AND GROUPS OF PERSONS FOR MERITORIOUS WORK AND THE EXHIBITION OF THEIR WORK; ANDB) TO INSTITUTE OR SUPPORT WORTHWHILE ARTISTIC OR CREATIVE PROJECTS AT ANY OF THE INSTITUTIONS WHICH AIM TO STIMULATE THE EDUCATION OR SKILLS OF SUCH PERSONS AND TO ASSIST IN THEIR REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT IN SOCIETY.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Hammersmith and Fulham, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a small surplus for the year ended March 31, 2025, with consolidated income increasing to £964,272 from £813,554 in the prior year. Free reserves stood at £259,512, which the trustees consider sufficient to cover running costs for at least three months, aligning with their stated reserves policy. The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified by the auditors.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Knox Cropper LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Koestler Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.2 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 12.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• SIR RICHARD NICHOLAS HEATON KCBchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Amy Frost
• Carrie Peters · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Nora Laraki
• Gary Anthony Badley
• Gary Mansfield · trustee of 1 other charity
• JEREMY DELLER
• Jasmin Booth
• Page Nyame -Satterthwaite
• Sally Bacon OBE
• Thomas Robert Campbell · trustee of 1 other charity

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE KESTLE BARTON TRUST.

• THE KESTLE BARTON TRUST income £113k
• KESTREL THEATRE COMPANY income £55k
• TURTLE KEY ARTS CENTRE TRUST income £738k
• PETHERTON ARTS TRUST LIMITED income £153k
• WE RESTART income £90k
• CARTOON ART TRUST LIMITED income £211k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.